Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 59
April 21st, 2010
– Sofoklis Schortsanitis Big Sofo has supposedly lost almost 150 pounds. This is good. The number is presumably exaggerated a bit, but whatever the amount he’s lost really is, it’s still good that he’s lost it. He needed to. Last year, he was simply too fat play; allegedly nearer to 500lbs than 400, and seemingly trying his best to undermine the team that continues to persist with him perhaps long after they shouldn’t, Sofo appeared in only 95 minutes all season, and fouled once in every four of them. How a man can get as big as he did is hard to fathom, and how a professional athlete (at least ostensibly) can get that big is simply mind-blowing. But it happened. Sofo has always had a huge frame, yet with all that fat on him, he was heeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEYYOOOOOOOOGE. You could feel your head being drawn closer to the screen, such was his gravitational pull. He was the biggest basketball player I have ever seen. And it was reflected in his play. This year, however, Sofoklis has turned up to play. Perhaps motivated by the impending expiration of his contract, Sofoklis has lost much weight and is an unstoppable force in the Greek league. He plays only 13.3 minutes in Greek league play, partly because Olympiacos keep winning in blowouts, partly because his stamina still isn’t great, partly because he offers so little defensively other than the foul, and partly of Olympiacos’s surfeit of big men. (When you have all of Sofo, Ioannis Bourousis, Nikola Vujcic, Linas Kleiza, Andreas Glyniadakis and Loukas Mavrokefalidis, you might as well use them). Yet in that short space of time, Sofo averages a whopping 9.4 points per game, shooting 69% from the field. He is unstoppably strong in the paint; there’s no else that big […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Los Angeles Clippers
July 10th, 2009
– Sean Banks: Sean Banks was in the NBA once, believe it or not. It’s a period of time easily forgotten, but it did happen – after declaring early and going undrafted in the 2005 Draft, the Hornets signed him as an undrafted free agent, and assigned him to the Tulsa 66ers. He was the sixth player ever to be assigned to the D-League, but he didn’t do much there, averaging roughly 12/3. The Hornets waived him before his contract became guaranteed, and he never appeared in an NBA game. He hasn’t made it back since. However, in the 2007/08 season, Banks averaged 21.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for the L.A. D-Fenders, which got him back into NBA contention, and he signed with the Raptors summer league team last year as a result. After that, he went to Turkey and played for Darussafaka, averaging 13.1 points and 5.1 rebounds. Banks would do himself a big favour if he either improved his jump shot, or put it away; he shot 101 three-pointers in 30 games last season, accounting for one in every three of his shot attempts, yet he hit only 21 of them. More importantly, Banks is rumoured to be trying to become a British national. His father was born in England, and still lives here, which entitles Sean to a British passport. He may soon be one of us. If he is, expect me to get biased. – Nik Caner-Medley: Caner-Medley spent last year in Spain, playing for Cajasol Sevilla in the ACB. He averaged 10.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in 25 minutes a game during domestic competition, but he still hasn’t developed a great outside shot, shooting 23% from three-point range on the year. More notably, Caner-Medley was kicked off of the team […]
Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 45
March 4th, 2009
– Jamal Sampson started the year in China (woop!), but unfortunately his averages were rather normal. Sampson averaged 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds for the DongGuan New Century Leopards, before being replaced in early February by Cory Underwood, the team clearly realising that if Olumide Oyedije can average 20/20, then Sampson should at least average 35/26. But he didn’t. – Ricky Sanchez, whose rights are owned by Philadelphia, is embroiled in a bit of a soap opera. Sanchez played last season in his native Puerto Rico for Grises de Humacao, but hasn’t played in the few months since that season ended. Currently, there’s an argument going on within Puerto Rico as to who he can and can’t play for. At some point in time, Sanchez was traded to the awesomely named Ponce Lions, but the Puerto Rican season is about to start, and Sanchez refuses to play for Ponce. The reason given by his agent is that Sanchez plans to attend “some” NBA camps this season (something clearly he considers to be possible), and he doesn’t want to be tied into a contract with a BSN (Puerto Rican league) team should an NBA offer come his way. Someone should tell him that it won’t, and ease the crisis. The dispute rages on, as FIBA have banned Sanchez from playing in the Venezuelan league. Apparently you need a formal letter of transfer to leave the Puerto Rican league, even if you’re a free agent. Harsh. A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. – Melvin Sanders is playing for Gran Canaria in Spain. He averaged 14.3 points per game in eight EuroCup games, and averages 10.2 points per game in 19 Spanish league games. He also has 24 total assists in those 27 games. Sanders recently picked up a Georgian passport, […]
